Page:Sun Tzu on The art of war.djvu/43

 the Yü Hai, but it finds a niche in the T‘ung Chih, which also names him as the author of the “Lives of Famous Generals.”

It is rather remarkable that the last-named four should all have flourished within so short a space of time. Ch‘ao Kung-wu accounts for it by saying: “During the early years of the Sung dynasty the Empire enjoyed a long spell of peace, and men ceased to practise the art of war. But when [Chao] Yüan-hao’s rebellion came [1038–42] and the frontier generals were defeated time after time, the Court made strenuous enquiry for men skilled in war, and military topics became the vogue amongst all the high officials. Hence it is that the commentators of Sun Tzŭ in our dynasty belong mainly to that period.”

Besides these eleven commentators, there are several others whose work has not come down to us. The Sui Shu mentions four, namely Wang Ling (often quoted by Tu Yu as );  Chang Tzŭ-shang;  Chia Hsü of  Wei; and  Shên Yu of  Wu. The T‘ang Shu adds Sun Hao, and the T‘ung Chih  Hsiao Chi, while the T‘u Shu mentions a Ming commentator,  Huang Jun-yü. It is possible that some of these may have been merely collectors and editors of other commentaries, like Chi T‘ien-pao and Chi Hsieh, mentioned above. Certainly in the case of the latter, the entry in the T‘ung K‘ao, without the following note, would give one to understand that he had written an independent commentary of his own.

There are two works, described in the Ssu K‘u Ch‘üan